After blowing leads in the final minute of the previous two games, the Islanders held on — just barely — Saturday night.

Brandon Pye and Hameed Ali each hit one of two from the line in the closing 27 seconds, and Ali was all over McNeese State’s Dontae Cannon when he tried to get off a game-tying shot at the buzzer. If it was luck, it was long overdue, as Cannon’s potential overtime-maker kicked out of the basket, giving A&M-Corpus Christi a 61-58 Southland Conference victory at the American Bank Center.

It was a sweet comeback for Ali, who guarded Lamar’s Donley Minor in the closing seconds of Thursday’s loss. Ali shadowed Minor well, but Minor broke free for an open 3-pointer that gave his team the victory.

Against Cannon, Ali stayed with the shooter, bodied up, but threw his arms back so as not to draw a foul. Cannon’s look was not the best, and a little off balance, allowing the ball to carom harmless away and end a six-game losing streak for the Islanders (3-18, 2-9).

A&M-Corpus Christi coach Willis Wilson said Ali did a good job of staying aggressive and taking away space, forcing a tough look.

“I was told, ‘Don’t foul.’ I gave up a late 3 last game. It hurt,” said Ali, who tied for the Islanders’ lead with 15 points. “I decided to stay sound and solidly in front of him and make him make a tough shot. He almost made it. You could see in his eyes he wanted to take that shot.”

Ali was kicking himself for only making one free throw in two attempts with 19 seconds left in the contest. That allowed the Cowboys (9-13, 3-9) to flood the court with 3-point shooters, though Cannon could not get the shot to fall.

“We’re just excited about what we could be,” Ali said. “This is what it could look like every night. Every team we play is beatable. We’re just trying to learn how to win. It’s something we can look back to, ‘Remember McNeese State. We stayed together. We fought and we won.’”

A&M-Corpus Christi won despite the absence of leading-scorer Will Nelson, who was on the bench — but not in uniform — being held out because of a coach’s decision.

But making up for Nelson’s absence was Joy Williamson, in his second game back with the Islanders after missing three contests with a concussion suffered in practice.

Williamson tied his career-high with 15 points against McNeese after scoring 12 against Lamar, his first game after the concussion. He also put up 15 in his final pre-concussion contest against Central Arkansas, another game in which A&M-Corpus Christi held a double-digit second-half lead but lost.

This was much different, though the Islanders almost let a 15-point second-half lead slip away.

“It’s excitement. It just gives us hope,” Williamson said. “As hard as we played, going at it at the end of the game and not pulling it out takes the life out of you. To see that we can get one, it’s definitely excitement.”

After losing leads in the final minute against Lamar and Sam Houston, A&M-Corpus Christi came perilously close to doing the same thing against the Cowboys. The Islanders were ahead 38-23 three minutes into the second half, when Keelan Garrett led a McNeese rally.

Garrett, who had played in only four games and scored a total of five points this season, had four three-point plays — one of the basket-and-foul variety and three from beyond the arc — over the next 10 minutes. With 5:45 left, the Cowboys had cut the lead to two.

But McNeese could get no closer. Nate Maxey put in a dunk and an easy basket — with an assist from Williamson — after breaking the Cowboys’ press. Johnathan Jordan and Pye hit one of two from the line, while Ali went three of four.

Twice in the final 20 seconds, McNeese attempted tying 3-point shots. Garrett’s was a little long and Cannon’s just rimmed out.

It was too close for comfort — especially with A&M-Corpus Christi hitting only half its free throws — but it was a much-needed victory.

“When you’ve got close games like this, you have to learn how to win,” Wilson said. “The things we did better were really subtle — challenging the 3-point shots late, we rebounded the ball well down the stretch. The next thing we have to do is make free throws so we can cut off people’s runs. If you look at the last month, it has been a gradual progression, and this is a good end result.”